1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a baking utensil for use in microwave cooking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The preparation of food using microwave energy has become popular in recent years due to the fast preparation times available to the user. It has been found, however, that cooking techniques employed in conventional-type thermal ovens are not satisfactory in microwave applications. For instance, the normal surface coloration or browning of many items does not occur in microwave ovens and in addition, the depth of penetration of cooking will vary with different ovens and items to be cooked. Another factor that needs to be considered in microwave cooking is the cooking utensil. The cooking utensils are important since microwave energy is substantially shielded and reflective by conductive metallic materials which are normally used for cooking utensils in most ovens. Other cooking utensils such as glass or plastic are preferred for microwave cooking since they are essentially transparent to microwave energy.
In microwave cooking the load placed within the oven enclosure is heated due to the interaction of the microwave fields within the load or material being cooked. In accordance with the so-called dialectric heating phenomena, the molecules tend to oscillate under the influence of high-frequency electromagnetic energy fields. The friction created by the molecular movement causes the material or load to be heated and cooked.
In recent times, numerous microwave cooking utensils have been developed. A few of the more pertinent one are described below. U.S. Pat. No. 3,302,632 issues to E. C. Fichtner is a plastic-type container having different cooking areas within the container. The container has microwave regulating material embedded in various portions of the walls to alter the microwave conductivity and permit microwave transmission in certain wall portions while providing different microwave cooking rates in other areas. This device permits the use of the utensil for cooking different items either at the same time or concurrently with other items. This is necessary to permit the cooking of different objects at different rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,266 issued to Palmer P. Derby discloses a member for supporting the item to be cooked in a microwave oven. The supporting member is designed to have a nonpermeable, nondissipative material having a plurality of frequency responsive impedence matching energy transparent structures to expose a load to varying degrees of heat. Thus the heating pattern results in browning and searing in the areas of intense energy transmission. The disclosure also describes the use of a container or utensil which is substantially transparent to microwave energy such as glass or Pyrex.
The foregoing disclosures are designed to provide for selective heating and have been reasonably successful in cooking certain items with microwave energy. A need, however, exists for simple, less costly microwave cooking utensils which can be used to cook bakery goods. The utensil cannot easily crack due to overheating or uncontrolled temperature rise during usage and should be relatively simple to use and store with conventional cooking utensils.
At the present time there is no known device in the prior art which will permit the effective uniform cooking of bakery goods in a microwave oven. The present invention discloses an effective bottomless cooking utensil for cooking bakery goods. However, there are known in the prior art trays which disclose some of the physical features of the present invention, but there exists no known cooking utensil for cooking bakery products as disclosed herein.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 169,759 issued to R. B. Karoff discloses a combined food and beverage rack wherein a cross formed of metal or plastic is used to support the glasses disposed within the tray. U.S. Pat. No. 855,565 issued to Jay Greenhouse also discloses a carrying tray which has several apertures cut through an upper surface through which glasses or bottles may be disposed. It also discloses the use of flexible spring tabs for grasping the sides of the bottles or tumblers when disposed in the tray. However, Greenhouse also discloses the necessity of having a bottom-support surface which is solid for supporting the glass or bottle.
The present invention provides a device for cooking bakery products in microwave ovens that is unknown in the prior art.